India's Sensitive Index rose 54.28 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,070.24 as of 11:31 a.m. local time in Mumbai.

The Reserve Bank of India will announce its quarterly monetary policy at noon. Economists are divided over whether the bank will raise interest rates to contain inflation.

The Reserve Bank may increase its overnight lending rate to 8 percent, according to 11 of 20 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The remaining 9 expect the central bank to leave the rate unchanged at 7.75 percent. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

ABB Ltd. (ABB IB) fell 21.9 rupees, or 1.9 percent, to 1,129.75, its steepest decline since April 4, after JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its share price estimate for the Indian unit of the world's biggest builder of electricity networks to 1,400 rupees from 1,650 rupees on expectations of weak revenue growth. JPMorgan retained its ``overweight'' rating on the stock.

Alok Industries Ltd. (ALOK IB) rose 0.90 rupee, or 1.3 percent, to 70.30 rupees after the textiles and apparels maker informed the Bombay Stock Exchange it would spin off its retail business to a wholly owned unit.

Berger Paints India Ltd. (BRGR IB) gained 4.25 rupees, or 10.3 percent, to 45.6 rupees, its strongest level since Jan. 30, after the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange it would pay $38.6 million to buy out Poland's Bolix SA.

Cairn India Ltd. (CAIR IB) increased 4.45 rupees, or 1.7 percent, to 263.15 after the Indian unit of Cairn Energy Plc reported consolidated profit in the first quarter rose to 1.16 billion rupees from 375.6 million rupees.